Hurrah, the Jarcy scene! I had a lot of fun writing this, and it also marks the end of the first act in the musical, so woot milestone!

If the dialogue sound strange and really unrealistic, forgive me, I was trying to keep as much of the original song as possible. :P

('_}') Adelle

I knew that the hand on my shoulder was Darcy's, but I didn't turn around. I watched the snowflakes embroider their filmy lacy designs on my dress' long sleeves, and brushed them gently from my eyes, being careful not to smudge my makeup.

"Jess." Darcy's voice made all my emotions suddenly well up in me, and as a single tear slid down my cheek, I choked back the rest of them. I leaned my head on my arms, until Darcy gently straightened my back and turned me to look at him.

His eyes were different. They were still angry, but now I knew that it wasn't because of me. He loved me. And I could see that in his eyes, and could feel it in his hands, and could sense it in his heart as he held me tightly against his chest.

"No more talk of darkness. Forget these wide-eyed fears, I'm here, nothing can harm you. Your fears are far behind you." A strand of my hair fell Into my face, and Darcy held me away briefly to brush it back. I gave up trying to hold back my tears and let them go. Darcy took my hands and stared into my eyes. "I'm here, with you, beside you. I'll guard you and I'll guide you." I smiled haltingly.

"Say you'll love me every waking moment, turn my head with talk of summertime." Darcy nodded, smiling slightly. "Say you need me with you now and always. Promise me that all you say is true." Darcy nodded again, his smile spreading. I whispered, "That's all I ask of you."

"Let me be your shelter, your light." I heard a footfall on the roof, and instantly stiffened. Darcy stroked my hair and pulled me even closer into him. "You're safe, no one will find you, your fears are far behind you." I pulled away. Suddenly realising the significance of the situation, the fantastic feeling of it all, I ran to the other side of the balcony, clutching at the rail and looking at the city lights.

"All I want is freedom, a world with no more night…" I pondered aloud. My wishes had always seemed so far away, but now… now they seemed like the were directly within my reach. I turned to look at Darcy again, thrusting my costume's cape behind me, out of the way, and stretched my arms out towards Darcy. "And you, always beside me, to hold me and to hide me!" Darcy walked quickly to me and took my hands gently.

"Then say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime. Say the word and I will follow you."

"Share each day with me, and keep me away from him…" Darcy looked at me, and in his eyes I saw joy. Happiness. A desire to protect. Assurance. "Say you love me…"

"You know I do," he replied tenderly and slowly.

"Love me, that's all I ask of you," we said together quietly, laughing a little. That would be our phrase. I looked down awkwardly, then back up, and was slightly alarmed to see something new in Darcy's eyes.

Desire.

"Darcy-" I almost panicked, almost ran to the railing again, but Darcy was too quick, He cupped my face in his warm, warm hands and pressed his lips to mine. And then I felt everything that I had seen in his eyes.

That kiss didn't last more than a few seconds, since I was too shocked to react.

"Anywhere you go, let me go too," I whispered, trying not to break the atmosphere.

"Love me, that's all I ask of you," we said again, but not laughing this time. Darcy leaned in again, and kissed me. This time I kissed back.

And as I pulled back from him, I realized that if it really is true, that the eyes are the window to a person's soul, I had seen everything Darcy had ever felt and done in his entire life.


We went back inside after that, whispering and giggling the length of the hall, my hand in his. "Order your fine horses, be with them at the door," Darcy quipped, referencing my family's work horses, Led and Zep.

"And soon you'll be beside me, you'll guard me and you'll guide me…" Darcy kissed my cheek as we approached the stage.

"Break a leg, Angel." The name sounded different from when Kevin called me it. Darcy meant it in an entirely different way.

I was halfway through the stage door when I realized my scarf was outside. I rushed back and grabbed Darcy's arm.

"I need to go get my scarf. Can you tell Andre and Firmin that I'll be back in a minute?"

"Jess, let me go get it for you. You need to get ready."

"I am ready!" I protested, wiping at my under eyes and inspecting the mascara on my fingertips. Well, maybe I just needed a little fixing up. "Really though, I need the air. Please."

Darcy thought for a minute, then pushed me in the direction of the door, albeit reluctantly. "Okay, I'll tell them. Just be back soon."

"I will be." I hugged him quickly and ran to the balcony door. I stopped just before going outside, though, when I saw a dark shape.

Oh no. I'd forgotten…

"I gave you my music," Kevin whispered, barely audible from where I stood. "Made your song take wing. And now, how you've repaid me, denied me and betrayed me." I looked down. I hadn't realized that my relationship with Darcy would hurt him this much…

Kevin reached down and picked up my red scarf gingerly. The scarf that held so many memories… I smiled fondly to myself.

I was only nine. We were at the beach with the Hawthornes, and I had been playing in the water with Emma. We were having so much fun, and had crawled out of the water for a snack, when I realized… my scarf, more like a security blanket that I carried everywhere with me, had drifted away. Darcy, without even thinking twice, ran out to get it. Since then, I'd never brought that scarf out of the house unless it was wrapped firmly around my neck.

I shook my head. No time to think of the past. But as I watched Kevin fondle the scarf bittersweetly, I couldn't help but realize how ironic it was, that both the guys who I felt especially close to were handling something that neither of them realized had been touched by the other.

"He was bound to love you, when he heard you sing… Oh Jess, Jess…"

Darcy had started to like me for my voice. Emma had told me that. It was only a silly little melody that had made him realize it, but still… maybe that was one reason why I was so attached to my music. A reason for why I couldn't seem to give up either of the guys. They both loved my voice and wanted to do everything to protect and enhance my gift.

I looked at Kevin again. He had pulled a rose from his back pocket and was pulling the petals off one by one, as if to play "She loves me, she loves-me-not…". And I did love him. I loved him so much I couldn't put it into words. But it was a different love than my love for Darcy. Kevin's was philia: the love felt between parent and child. I felt natural affection for him, nothing romantic. But Darcy - my love for Darcy was most certainly eros, intimate love… such closeness. The words we'd spoken echoed back through my mind.

"Say you'll love me every waking moment, turn my head with talk of summertime. Share each day with me, and keep me away from him…" Kevin moaned like some ethereal creature and threw the picked-over rose stem to the ground, grinding it with his heel into the snow. His moan grew increasingly louder as he ran to the angel statue in the corner of the balcony and stood on the base beside it, He put one arm around it and shook his fist at the sky.

"You will curse the day you did not do all that your teacher asked of you!" I backed away and ran down the hall to the dressing room, where I began to hurriedly touch up my makeup.

He was my teacher. I'd hurt him so deeply. I would curse the day I didn't obey him? Oh no, was all I could think as I went out onto the stage.